Thoughts About Sunday and My Crying Jag
Okay, so Hi-ace thinks he has come up with a blogging topic for the day for me. I’m not in a very good mood so I just asked him, I mean growled (hehehe), “What?”
He has his usual teasing expression so I guessed I wouldn’t like what I would hear. “Why don’t your write about how you BAWLED out last Sunday?”
I know that’s supposed to rile and bait me! Why do I even bother? Ok. Come to think of it, it’s not really embarassing. It was just completely out of character for me..
So last Sunday (I’m sure most Pinoys were glued to their TV sets) was Manny Paquiao and Miguel Cotto’s boxing match. I’m not that much into boxing but Hi-ace was watching so I watched too. Found the other matches kinda boring, well I don’t know them but I did watch the fight before Paquiao and Cotto because I think what’s-his-name Chavez was cute.
Hi-ace kept giving me dagger looks coz I kept squealing every time he lands a punch and I kept going, “OMG, that Chavez guy is handsome!”, “He’s hot!” Blah blah.. Ha ha ha I must admit, I kept saying that just to vex my husband. I guess it was working coz he started cheering for Chavez’ opponenet. Good thing the guy I was cheering on won.. and I was like, “In your face, Hi-ace!” (See why I love him? I always win 
).
Anyway, it was time for the main event, Pacquiao vs. Cotto. Of course, Cotto was like the underdog and Pacquiao the crowd favorite. I really should cheer for Manny Pacquio, of course, he’s Pinoy and I’m proud of that and not just that, he is really good at what he does. But Hi-ace says he was cheering for Pacquiao and besides, “Cotto is much more goodlooking so you cheer for him”, so I should settle for cheering for him. (Sometimes he could really be annoying!!)
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Sure to Crack Me Up..
You know, whenever I’m in a crabby mood I don’t really dwell on it. What I’d usually do is to take a shower, have a short walk, listen to some music, play some word games, eat ice cream, watch a feel good movie, read Princess Diaries (i know I’m like 30 but I like this one, reminds me of my teenage years not that I’m a princess or anything..). If all of the above doesn’t coax me into a better mood, all I do is dig up these photos of Chinks when she was a few months old..
Naughty Chinkee
or this
Chinkee's I Wanna Be A Tricycle Driver Phase
or this
That Time She Badly Wanted to Curl Her Hair
All it takes is having a look at this photos and I feel a lot better. Having kids means a lot of sacrifices and hard work, but truth is its happiest and most rewarding experience I’ve ever had..
Keeping Hi-Ace Healthy
I’ve been trying to get Hi-ace to not forget taking his daily vitamin supplement. I must admit I’m a bit of a nag when it comes to this coz he does keep forgetting to take it.I know he eats healthy, he doesn’t smoke and rarely drinks. In fact, I’m even better at holding heavy drinks than him .
But since he is always busy, he says his job is stressful – students probably trying to raise his blood pressure coupled with his office work. His day is really so hectic at times he could barely sit down for lunch before heading off to some lecture or meeting. He doesn’t even have time to exercise, so among us its him who easily gets sick. And that worries me a lot, of course.
I’ve also gotten him to drink non-fat milk daily which he does that now without complaints. And I’m thinking he should be getting an annual general health exam. I know I’m such a worrier but hey! it’s my husband’s health after all. You know I don’t wanna get the scare again like last time he had this terrible gastic ulcer right after we arrived here in Phnom Penh. That was an experience I was totally unprepared to handle.
Anyway, another reason I want to get him to learn new healthy habits is that he’ll probably go somewhere for some leadership training next year and since I won’t be there to err nag him, so he has to get into a more proper routine already.
I’m probably distressing about something I should not be distressing about, but anyway I’m still doing some more reading, and checking out sites about healthy eating, health products, supplements, fitness etc.
AirAsia’s Febulous Sale – November 16-22 2009 only!
Here’s another super saver and cheap flight deals for those budget travelers who wants to hop around Asia. Book from November 16-22 2009 and travel from February 1, 2010 to April 30, 2010 and get huge discounts.
Air Asia's Febulous Deals Promo
- Fly from LCCT, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to domestic and international destinations for only RM29 up!
- Fly from Singapore’s Changi Airport to Malaysia and Indonesia for as low as SGD 39.
- Fly from Kota Kinabalu to domestic destinations and to international destinations like Brunei and Clark, Philippines from RM29 (domestic) and RM39 up for international.
- Fly from Jakarta to domestic destinations and international destinations like Malaysia and Vietnam for a low USD 39.
- Fly from Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok to domestic destinations and to Taipei for only THB 1,490!
- Fly from Phuket to Chiang Mai, Indonesia or Vietnam for THB1,490 and below.
Visit AirAsia for more info. The trick to getting this really super low rates is to book as soon as you can! Keep in mind you can get this deals if you book from November 16-22 2009 only.
Will keep you posted for more travel and airfare deals for flights around Asia.
50 Questions Meme
I was surfing online and found this meme. And since I’m feeling a little bit bored and lazy I decided to post it and I’d like to tag Josiet and Zarah.
50 Questions:
1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
Whaaaaaa! I really really need to visit a hair salon and have my hair straightened. It’s just so frizzy.
2. How much cash do you have on you?
$25
3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?
Ummm.. Core
4. Favorite planet?
Uranus. It’s not very popular and I think its unusual.
5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
Hi-ace’s nephew
6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
I have no idea. Chinks keep changing it everyday, so you could say I have lots of missed calls because I don’t recognize my ringtone most of the time.
7. What shirt are you wearing?
Pink tank top
8. Do you label yourself?
Nope.
9. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently wearing?
I’m wearing flip flops, no brand.
10. Bright or Dark Room?
Dark. My eyes find it easier to adjust..
Conversations with Chinkee, Santa Claus and Mobile Phones
Yesterday, I had this conversation with my daughter Chinkee..
“Mommy, is Santa coming around this Christmas?”
Which reminded me, we still have this Santa Claus tradition every Christmas. We used to spend every Christmas holiday in the Philippines with my parents in Bicol and my brother was totally into playing Santa for his niece. Having Santa treats is fun and she looks forward to it every year so we kept the tradtion.
So I told her, “Sure, baby. He’ll come around this year..”
“But maybe he doesn’t know how to get here! Mommy, remember were in Cambodia now,maybe he doesn’t know where our house is..” She now saying, looking wide-eyed at me like I was suffering from temporary amnesia.
“Oh, well you can then write a letter to him. Tell him how you’d been good and tell him where your house is now.”
And I just had to laugh when she answered a little impishly, “Mommamm (she sometimes calls me this ), maybe I should not write, why don’t you just text him?”
As if I have Santa’s number.. Does he even have a mobile phone? How come my daughter is like that? When I need to call her school for something, she’s always like, “Mommy, just text Teacher” or when she needs something from her grandmother or her cousins, she’d bug me and ask, “Mommamm, did you text them already, ha?”
Chinks is 6 1/2 years and she’s a total techie. Like she could easily learn how to use a mobile phone, she’s totally at ease using a laptop (though she just plays games), no one taught her how to operate the TV and the DVD player, it’s like she just figured it out on her own.
Shheesh, I’m just amazed! You know youngsters are really fast when it comes to learning new stuff. She easily figured out how to unlock my mobile phone so she could play with it while it took about a month of constant tutoring to get my mom to learn how to send a text using her really simple phone. Talk about generation gaps..
Keeping Busy..
I’m in a bit of a crabby mood since Monday.. Oh, did I mention it was holiday again last Monday here in Cambodia? Anyway, we did accomplish a lot this past weekend. Played around with my little garden, re-potted some of my orchids. Hi-ace even bought a really big pot, filled it with water coz he and Chinks are planning to grow lotus or lilies as well as grow some fish. Cool idea and they are having a blast..
I had been building several new websites including Hi-ace’s (..I’m not publishing the link yet.. hehe when its ready..) as well as some other new niche blog sites. I want to experiment with different streams of income I could get online. Some will have Adsense etc, some will focus on doing reviews, some I intend to build to sell text links in the future. The thing is, once the site is up and running, what then takes time is of course, content writing and building links. This could be really tedious, from exchanging links to directory submission, etc. So here I am really slaving but making money online is just as tough as having your own business and you really have to put in much effort. Not that I’m complaining, in fact I find it really interesting and fun.
I also got myself sunburned!! And obviously I’m not happy about it. I mean who would but anyway I did enjoy myself despite the burnt skin. Last Monday, we went to a pagoda somewhere in the nearby province. We all opted to ride a tuk-tuk haha just for the experience and for sure I did enjoy the countryside more so I was always sticking my face out of the tuk-tuk hence the sunburns. Will write more about the pagoda visit soon.. It was definitely interesting! Another unique insight to Cambodian culture.
For now, I’m staying inside the house since I don’t want to aggravate my already roasted skin. And I’m also getting a lot of writing done. I also felt like doing some reading again. Light reading preferably something for young adults. There are times I like doing this, it’s refreshing to read not so serious stuff so I picked Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries series. I know I watched the movie but after reading the first book, its different and I think the book was better. The whole series has 10 books plus some short novels (Meg Cabot calls it ‘half’ books) and I’m on the 5th book already (see I got hooked!) and I’m actually feeling better! Ahh!! Sometimes, I do wish I was still a teenager with nothing to worry about but my acne or what dress to pick for my prom.
Bye for now. I have to feed the fish! Why is that I’m given this task? I mean it was their idea in the first place to have these fishes so why am I the one tasked to feed it regularly? I guess I was simply outvoted.
Tiger Airways’ Early Bird Savers is Back!
Now for those itching to travel, here’s the latest deal to check out from one of Asia’s budget airlines – Tiger Airways. The popular Early Bird Savers Promo is now back and ready for booking. Valid for one way travel from Feb to September 2010.
Tiger Airways flies to 32 destinations, across 9 countries in the Asia Pacific. Check out also their weekly flight deals for big savings. Hurry, hurry and book now!
Video: Day 1 Cambodian Water Festival 2009
Here’s a video from KhmerLiveTV of Day 1 of Cambodian Water Festival 2009. Though curious about this occasion that is so much part of the Cambodian culture, I didn’t want to brave the crowds to watch the events so I was just content watching it on tv and those curious about the going ons this video would give you an idea about the Cambodian Water Festival.
Long Holiday is Over..
No work, no school since Friday here in Cambodia. Friday was King Sihamoni’s coronation anniversary, the next day was the King father’s birthday. The November1-3 we saw a flurry of activity here in Phnom Penh because of the Water Festival or the Bon Om Tuk. Now it’s back to school for the kids and back to work for me 
.
We had been thinking of going out of town for the holidays but the plan was put off because Hi-ace has been tied up with something from work. So we just spent the long holidays here in Phnom Penh. Saturday we went to visit a friend. Sunday was spent with Hi-ace parents. We also went to the riverside early morning just to check out what’s happening (not much really..) since most of the activities took place in the afternoons.
The next day we went to look for a laptop for Hi-ace’s niece and we ended up buying a Toshiba U500 @ about $740. Laptops are getting cheaper and cheaper now huh? I was really tempted to get myself an ideapad, those really small notebooks and I happened to see a Dell Mini Netbook in plum purple. Tempting, tempting! Just take a look..
Anyway, I looked for a video card since I’ve been planning to update the one here in my desktop for a better ‘gaming’ experience. I nagged Hi-ace about changing our curtain bars and yahoo! it worked. Got him out of staring at his notebook and we bought several new curtain bars and I pestered him again till he installed it all. 
Last Tuesday night we roamed around and we chanced upon a ‘not-so-crowded’ shop along Norodom Blvd. selling kids shoes for only $5. We ended up buying some for Chinks and some nieces. We were supposed to see what’s happening along the riverside but it was just so traffic and neither of us was feeling masochistic to brave it.
Yesterday morning was again spent @ my in-law’s house eating Cambodian noodles..After a leisurely lunch I dragged Hi-ace to Tuol Tompong Market to buy some plastic baskets to stuff Chinkee’s toys which is always cluttered around. I also ended up buying shirts..We planned to have dinner out last night but it was raining really hard so I just cooked ‘pata tim’ @ home and we had a sumptuous dinner..
Sour Soben, Kandal Province Cambodia
This is usually our dilemma. As much as possible we want to have a short reprieve from the dust and chaos here in Phnom Penh, but most weekends we don’t have much time to travel really far. So places just around Phnom Penh and adjacent provinces are really what we constantly look for.
One of our favorite weekend getaway place is Sour Soben in Tiger Road, Kandal Province. It’s about 30-40 minutes drive from Phnom Penh. Sour Soben has two huge ponds, landscaped and surrounded by floating huts and they serve delicious and affordable Khmer food. They also have lots of peacocks, swans and other birds plus for only $5 per hour (includes the fishing line, baits etc) you can also try your hand at fishing. They also have a free playground for kids.
I love the whole atmosphere of the place. You get to relax and feel the breeze.. No wonder this place is popular with Khmers so best head over there around 10-11 am to get your pick of a well-located cottage. Of course, in true Cambodian style, the huts just come with mats, as they prefer having picnics and sitting in lotus style. You can also bring a hammock, tie it in the huts and get some beauty sleep.
Khmer food served here is good and I particularly like their grilled fish, papaya salad, roast chicken and the shrimp served with coconut milk. Prices range from $3-$6 for the mains. Let’s say for 3 persons, $20 is more than enough..
I can’t describe the place more in words so I’ll let this photos tell the story..
Cebu Pacific’s 1-Peso Seat Sale is On till Nov 2, 2009
Budget cuts? Don’t let it stop you from traveling. I love these budget airlines and I find myself taking advantage of their super value promotions. I’m even a regular email subscriber of these airlines so I get to know when they have fare cuts. Here’s another fare promo from Cebu Pacific, the Philippines’ budget airline.
Cebu Pacific is offering ‘Go Lite’ P1 seat sale to all international and domestic destinations starting now until November 2, 2009, or until the allotted 100,000 seats are sold out. Travel period is June 15 to September 30, 2010. For online bookings only. Hurry!! Book Now.
The promotion covers all domestic routes as well as its international destinations – Kota Kinabalu, Taipei, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Busan, Shanghai, Incheon and Osaka.
‘Go Lite’ means no check-in luggage but if you go heavy on shopping, you simply need to add in P100 for check-in luggage.
Cambodia’s Water and Moon Festival, November 1-3 2009
More holidays! Next week, November 1-3, 2009 is one of the most anticipated festivals in all of Cambodia. The pirogue racing along the Tonle Sap, Phnom Penh is one event that Khmer’s look forward to. The whole carnival feeling plus thousands of tourists and locals flock to Phnom Penh to join in the festivities.
Image credits: Cambodia.org /Khmerization
Although there is also a smaller scale version of the festival held in Angkor Wat, but the exciting happenings are right in Phnom Penh. Yesterday, we took a stroll along the riverside and whoa! there are loads of stalls in construction, workers touching up on the pavilion that will serve as viewing stand for the boat race, more workers cleaning up the river from floating water hyacinth..
Water Festival 2009 Preparations..
Water Festival 2009 Preparations..
Early Morning..@the Riverside
Flags are Up..Phnom Penh Riverside
The annual Water and Moon Festival is also called the Bonn Om Toeuk in Khmer. This festival celebrates the start of the fishing season. It also marks the reversal of the current in Tonle Sap river. The most watched out for event is the boat racing, and there is fireworks, lots of fairs and mini concerts.
The Boat Race or Pirogue Racing, the highlight and worth watching. Some 300 boats all propelled by synchronized rowers. Most of the rowers are from different provinces and some from other countries. Loads of people from provinces come over to cheer on their rowing team.
The Moon festival coincides with the Water Festival and for Khmers the full moon means bountiful harvest. During this time, Khmers give offerings, light incense and say prayers to the moon.
Living in Phnom Penh: Yesterday’s Holiday..
October 29.. Holiday here in Cambodia. Chinks was sad coz she won’t be going to school. So what’s the occasion? October 29 is His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni’s coronation anniversary. King Norodom Sihamoni is the son of His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia and of Her Majesty Queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk of Cambodia. He was born 14 May 1953. Check out King Sihamoni’s official website.
A friend asked me before if he is single, well, yes he is. So ladies who wish to be a queen and mother of the future king, well King Sihamoni is single. He is multi-lingual and can speak Khmer, French, Czech, English and Russian so knowing this languages can help . Anyway, I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting or even seeing him in person but he does have a very gentle aura and serenity. Perhaps that is why Khmers love him.
Anyway, what did we do with the rest of our free day yesterday? Woke up real early for a jog around the riverside. We like doing this coz its free of crowds compared to evenings and no traffic. After a couple of hours of brisk walking, we went to Tuol Tompong Market to for food shopping.
I was in a mood for Pinoy food so I cooked chicken tinola and stir-fried pork with tomatoes and onion. My Khmer niece said the chicken tinola is so ‘chungun’ (delicious) and I guess that made my day.
Afternoon was spent having haircut. Chinks had her hair styled with bangs (so 60’s and cute!) and I also had my hair cut and gave the stylist free rein on what to do with my unruly mane. He just amazed me and churned out a layered do for me which definitely minimized the crazy volume of my hair and it appeared toned down. Love it and love the price too.. Just $6 for me and Chinks complete with blowdrying. He advised that I should get my hair straightened to get the maximum effect of my layered hair and I might just do that next week…
Late evening, we went to buy wine for Hi-ace. Got home around 6:30. Some friends were inviting us to go to the riverside to see the fireworks for King Sihamoni but we opted out. We don’t like big crowds and no way are we braving that area with Chinks in tow…
Just the same it was a really an enjoyable day.. And more holidays to come.. Next week is Cambodia’s Water Festival so that’s a couple more days of holidays..Yahoo!
Purple Going Orange??
Remember my purple phone? Hi-ace got for me as a surprise since I was really obssessed about purple things? For this year anyway.. I’m thinking next year would be a good year for pink or maybe orange.. Hehehe I wonder.. Maybe I could get him to buy me an iPod or a digital camera in pink or orange?
Anyway, about my purple phone, its a Sony Ericsson K770i, Cybershot series. I really really love it! Sure its not loaded with features like the iPhone or a Blackberry or an HTC phone but I’ve come to love it mainly because it, yes! purple. It has the features that I need like 3G, Bluetooth, radio, RSS reader and what I love best is its 3 Megapixels camera. I have a digital camera but at times I forget to bring it around and this phone comes in really handy. The picture quality is almost at par with one taken by a digi cam, like the photos I took of Royal University of Phnom Penh (IFL). I use it more often that the digicam now I’m thinking of buying a new sd card so I could store more.
I’m thinking of not replacing it even if my color choice next year would be pink or orange.. but I kinda dig the orange one on the photo..What do you think?
What’s Making Me Grin Like a Weirdo..
I’m in a pretty good mood today. I transferred my blog earnings for the last two weeks around $200 from my Paypal account to my Philippine bank account (Metrobank). I did the actual transfer Friday night so not counting the weekends, I was expecting my funds to be credited Thursday or Friday this week. But I was really surprised when I checked late Monday evening that voila! the money is there already! Fast huh? I’ve done similar transfers dozens of times already but this is the fastest it could get. The only complaint I’ve got is that the peso is getting weaker against the dollar (again!!) and since my Metrobank account is in Peso I’d be losing a lot if I withdraw it here in dollars. So I just decided to leave it there and just save it.
Another thing I’m happy about is that yesterday me and Chinks discovered Aero-Kae-Bo workout video and has been trying it out. It’s a combination of Aerobics, Karate and Boxing and has 10-minute and 30 minute workout option. I’ve been doing the 30 min workout for two straight days already and I feel really good being able to sweat. It’s a great cardio exercise and really simple to follow. I’m thinking of alternating it with HipHop Abs workout, another workout video I enjoy very much. We’ll see.. Hmm, hope i could keep up and not be lazy again after a couple of days.
Chinkee Wants to Be..
My daughter, Chinkee, says she wants to be a bus/bulldozer driver or have her own business. I’m not sure why she fancies being a bus or bulldozer driver but she is really fascinated with buses and construction machineries. I could still remember when she was three she bugged me to buy her a remote controlled excavator. After a couple of weeks of her campaigining for that toy, I got her one and boy! did she have some fun. When were also living in Cavite, there was a new subdivision being constructed beside our village and we used to take afternoon walks near there and she was always ecstatic whenever she sees those big equipments..
She also says if she cannot be a bus or bulldozer driver she will be a businesswoman. I think she’d be a natural at it. Especially now that she stays a lot with Hi-ace’s family. They are so entrepreneur-minded and I like exposing her to that. She also likes hearing her dad telling her stories about how he raised poultry and sold eggs in the market when he was young so he could have some money for school expenses. All their nephews and nieces are very much involved in their small businesses. Be it repacking for their grocery store, or tending the store during slow periods. We both agree that this is a great training ground for kids plus it also improves their social skills.
She also likes playing selling or what she calls ‘tindatindahan’. When we were staying in Bicol my father even made a little toy store for her. She then bugged us to buy her the complete toy store set with plastic shopping carts, mini POS systems etc. and she’d assign ‘customer’ roles to us.Till now she still plays like that alternating managing her ‘grocery store’ with her ‘little restaurant’.
It’s really fun watching her and at times joining in her play. The only problem sometimes is that she expects us to eat whatever she cooks in her ‘restaurant’..
Street Finger Foods – Khmer Style
I love Khmer food and I’m really adventurous when it comes to trying out street foods. Comes from being Asian I think and besides in the Philippines these stuff are part of our daily lives. I must say I miss eating street foods from home and to remedy that I’ve been so game trying out what’s in the streets of Phnom Penh. Except for those fried exotic insects, I had been having a blast tasting different kinds of Cambodian street foods.
I’ve been curious whenever I see those roving eateries that set up late afternoon on the sidewalks with small chairs and lots of young people as patrons. Most of them eating nom pang pate, some serve fruit shakes, but what I was interested in were the fried finger foods. Reminds me so much of Pinoy favorites – fishballs/squidballs/kwek-kwek (quail eggs coated in flour and deep fried)/calamares (squid rings dipped in flour and deep fried).
- ummy Khmer Street Finger Foods
The Cambodian version has lots of varieties. Hotdogs, beef balls, meat balls, sausages, veggies wrapped in fish wrappers, spicy ham and a lot more. I observed that Khmers like eating in balance. Each serving doesn’t just include several choices of sauce but it all comes with lots of herbs and cucumber. I love experimenting with the sauces and after trying them all I’m getting kind of confused about which one I prefer. The herbs balances the salty taste and the cucumber adds an extra crunch to it.
The variety of food and its unique Khmer taste makes one’s diet easy to forget. It’s easy to have food binge here and everytime that happens to me I contemplate taking diet pills to offset the extra calories. Not good though..Anyway, if you’re into street food and wanna try out what Khmers eat along the streets, this is a must try. And oh, it tastes great with chilled tea.
Photos – Royal University of Phnom Penh
One of our favorite places to stroll about here in Phnom Penh is the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Late afternoon gets a little bit crowded there with young people having picnics, some playing soccer, some playing badminton and some ‘not-so-young’ doing some brisk walking.
The Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) is located along the corner of Confederation de la Russie and St. 598. The area is big with lots of trees, ponds, walking paths. It’s also free to get in as long as its open. Though its not as big but it does reminds me a bit of UP Diliman grounds.
The buildings are also lovely, some built in the 1960’s so the architecture is pretty interesting blend of Khmer and French influences. My daughter loves going to the ponds in the Institute of Foreign Language, lots of fishes there and you can even feed it..
Whenever we go there I can’t resist taking photos of the buildings and I’ve collected some to share. Enjoy!
